EOOT CEOPS. 359 



"We also imported the following quantities of potatoes in the 

 last five years : 



Cwts. 



1848 940,697 



1849 1,417,867 



1850 1,348,867 



1851 636,771 



1852 773,658 



Thoroughly dried potatoes will always produce a crop free from 

 disease. Such is the positive assertion of Mr. Bollmaii, one of the 

 professors in the Russian Agricultural Institution, at G-origoretsky. 

 In a very interesting pamphlet* by this gentleman, it is asserted, 

 as an unquestionable fact, that mere drying, if conducted at a suf- 

 ficiently high temperature, and continued long enough, is a com- 

 plete antidote to the disease, 



The account given by Professor Bollman of the accident which 

 led to this discovery is as follows : He had contrived a potato- 

 setter, which had the bad quality of destroying any sprouts that 

 might be on the sets, and even of tearing away the rind. To 

 harden the potatoes so as to protect them against this accident, he 

 resolved to dry them. In the spring of 1850, he placed a lot in a 

 very hot room, and at the end of three weeks they were dry 

 enough to plant. The potatoes came up well, and produced as 

 good a crop as that of the neighbouring farmers, with this dif- 

 ference only, that they had no disease, and the crop was, there- 

 fore, upon the whole, more abundant. Professor Bollman tells us 

 that he regarded this as a mere accident ; he, however, again dried 

 his seed potatoes in 1851, and again his crop was abundant and free 

 from disease, while everywhere on the surrounding land they were 

 much affected. This was too remarkable a circumstance not to excite 

 attention, and in 1852 a third trial took place. All Mr. Bollman' s 

 own stock of potatoes being exhausted, he was obliged to purchase 

 his seed, which bore unmistakable marks of having formed part 

 of a crop that had been severely diseased ; some, in fact, were quite 

 rotten. After keeping them about a month in a hot room, as be- 

 fore, he cut the largest potatoes into quarters, and the smaller into 

 halves, and left them to dry for another week. Accidentally the 

 drying was carried so far that apprehensions were entertained of 

 a very bad crop, if any. Contrary to expectation, however, the 

 sets pushed promptly, and grew so fast that excellent young po- 

 tatoes were dug three weeks earlier than usual. Eventually nine 

 times the quantity planted was produced, and although the neigh- 

 bouring fields were attacked, no trace of disease could be found on 

 either the herbage or the potatoes themselves. 



This singular result, obtained in three successive years, led to 

 inquiry as to whether any similar cases were on record. In the 

 course of the investigation two other facts were elicited. It was 



* Les Moyens do prevenir la Maladie des Pommes de Terre. Experiences et 

 Conclusions de A. N. C. Bollman, Conseiller d'etat, Professeur, &c. 8vo, St. 

 Petersburg, 1853. 



